Descriptions and Redescriptions of the Hawaiian Octocorals 
Collected by the U. S. Fish Commission Steamer '"Albatross.” 
(1. Alcyonacea, Stolonifera, and Telestacea.)^ 
Frederick M. Bayer^ 
During the preparation of the report on 
the Gorgonacea of Bikini, it became neces- 
sary to study also the other northern Pacific 
octocorals in the collections of the U. S. 
National Museum, mostly obtained by the 
U. S. Fish Commission steamer "Albatross” 
during its Hawaiian cruise (1902) and during 
two cruises to Japanese waters (1898 and 
1906). It was immediately evident that many 
of the specimens from these collections had 
been incorrectly identified — so many, in fact, 
that a complete revision of both the Japanese 
and the Hawaiian collections, as reported 
upon by C. C. Nutting (1908, 1912), seemed 
highly desirable. Toward this end, the entire 
Hawaiian collection of Octocorallia (except 
the Pennatulacea) was reviewed and reidenti- 
fied, and will now be redescribed in a series of 
short papers, of which this is the first. The 
present part covers seven species and one 
subspecies in the orders Alcyonacea, Stoloni- 
fera, and Telestacea. Of these, one is a cor- 
rection of specific determination, one is a 
generic reassignment, and three are realloca- 
tions at the ordinal level. 
Order ALCYONACEA 
Family ALCYONIIDAE 
Anthomastus fisheri n. sp. 
Figs. 1, 2 
Anthomastus steenstrupi Nutting, 1908: 555. 
Not Anthomastus steenstrupiWn^t and Studer, 
1889: 243, pi. 41, fig. 8. 
^Published with the permission of the Secretary of 
the Smithsonian Institution. Manuscript received Oc- 
tober 24, 1951. 
^Assistant Curator, Division of Marine Inverte- 
brates, U. S. National Museum, Washington, D. C. 
DIAGNOSIS: Stalk thick, short {Vi to 34 of 
total height); capitulum spheroidal; auto- 
zooid calyces 3-4 mm. across, low, with 
margins slightly raised; siphonozooids about 
9 in 4 sq. mm. Spicules of outer surface of 
stalk and capitulum as spiny stars and short 
rods; of interior of stalk, long, slender rods 
or needles. 
DESCRIPTION: The largest specimen is 
about 23 mm. tall. The stalk is 8-9 mm. in 
diameter and 12 mm. in length; it is attached 
by a thin, membranous expansion to a small 
rock. The capitulum is spheroidal, 12 mm. 
high and 14 mm. in diameter. It bears about 
25 large autozooids which in life probably 
exceeded 5 mm. in height; these are partially 
retractile into low calyces which have slightly 
raised rims. In contraction, the upper part of 
the anthocodiae project from the bottom of 
crater-like pits in the capitulum. Between the 
autozooids, numerous siphonozooids occur; 
these are seen as small verrucae with simple 
orifices, slightly raised above the capitulum 
surface. About 9 siphonozooids occur in an 
area of 4 sq. mm. The outer wall of the stalk 
and the surface of the capitulum contain a 
superficial layer of short, spiny stars, usually 
with a transverse girdle, which reach about 
0.06 mm. in length and 0.05 mm. in width 
(Fig. 1 /) ; under the layer of stars is a layer 
of rods which are practically smooth except 
for a few conical spines, most numerous near 
their ends (Fig. 1 e ) ; these rods attain a length 
of 0.32 mm., occasionally more. In the in- 
terior of the stalk there are similar but longer, 
more spinose rods (Fig. 1 d ) often exceeding 
0.4 mm. in length. The anthocodial walls 
contain the spiny, star-like sclerites, many of 
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